I. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to vehicles. Particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to the transportation of vehicles and other materials. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus for loading, unloading and transporting vehicles and other materials.
II. Discussion of Related Art
Presently, the most common type of transportation for work or recreational vehicles is trailers which can be towed by a larger vehicle. Some vehicles, such as motorcycles or lawnmowers, can be transported in the bed of a pickup truck; however, this type of transportation usually requires a ramp or several people to load the vehicle into the pickup bed. This can be a difficult operation as most ramps are very narrow and the vehicle can often navigate off of the ramp possibly causing injury to personal or to the vehicle. If people are manually loading a vehicle in a pickup bed, the risk of injury increases as most vehicles are very heavy ranging anywhere from 250 lbs. and greater. Therefore, it is most common to see work or recreational vehicles, such as ATV's or lawnmowers, transported via a trailer towed by a pickup or other larger vehicle.
A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for the transport of goods and materials. Some trailers are made for personal or small business use with practically any powered vehicle having an appropriate hitch. Enclosed toy trailers and motorcycle trailers can be towed by a commonly accessible pickup truck or van, which generally requires no special permit beyond a regular driver's license. Specialized trailers like open-air motorcycle trailers and bicycle trailers are much smaller and accessible to small automobiles as are some simple trailers, which are pulled by a drawbar and riding on a single set of axles. Other trailers, such as utility trailers and travel trailers come in single and multiple axle varieties to allow for varying sizes of tow vehicles.
A utility trailer is a trailer designed to haul work and/or recreational vehicles behind an automobile or truck. Such trailers may be open or enclosed, ranging in size from trailers capable of carrying several vehicles or only one. They may be designed specifically to carry vehicles, with ramps and tie-downs, or may be a utility trailer adapted permanently or occasionally to haul one or more vehicle.
While utility trailers can be very useful, they do restrict the user wishing to transport a vehicle in several ways. The user must locate the trailer, then move the work or recreational vehicle onto the utility trailer and then connect the utility trailer up to the transport vehicle (not necessarily in this order). This operation can become a tedious and laborious task for the user depending on several variables. If the user is in a remote location, such as deep within a field or construction site, it can be very inconvenient for the user to drive all the way back to the location of the trailer, hook up the trailer and then return back to the location of the work or recreation vehicle. Further, the loading of the work or recreational vehicle onto the utility trailer can be cumbersome and difficult due to the weight of the work or recreational vehicle and the fact most utility trailers are imbalanced when not connected to the towing vehicle. Finally, connecting the utility trailer to the towing vehicle can be difficult and cumbersome as the user must typically manually move the utility trailer to the towing vehicle, align the towing trailer and then manually connect the utility trailer to the towing vehicle.
Presently, there are several types of work and/or recreational vehicles. A listing and discussion of these vehicles are given below for the reader's understanding of the present invention discussed in great detail below.
An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a quad, quad bike, three-wheeler or four-wheeler is defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a vehicle traveling on low pressure tires with a seat straddled by the operator along with handlebars for steering control. It is designed to handle a wider variety of terrain than most other vehicles. ATVs are intended for use by a single operator, although some companies have developed ATVs intended for use by the operator and one passenger. These ATVs are referred to as tandem ATVs. The rider sits on and operates these vehicles like a motorcycle, but the extra wheels give more stability at slower speeds. Although typically equipped with three or four wheels, six-wheel models exist for specialized applications.
A personal water craft (PWC) is a recreational watercraft the rider sits or stands on, rather than inside of, as in a boat. Models have an inboard engine driving a pump jet having a screw-shaped impeller to create thrust for propulsion and steering. They are often referred to by the brand names Jet Ski™, WaveRunner™ or Sea-Doo™. Most are designed for two or three people though four-passenger models exist.
A motorcycle (also called a motorbike, bike, or cycle) is a single-track, engine-powered, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing or off-road conditions. Motorcycles are one of the most affordable forms of motorized transport in many parts of the world and for most of the world's population; they are also the most common type of motor vehicle. There are around 200 million motorcycles (including mopeds, motor scooters and other powered two and three-wheelers) in use worldwide, or about 33 motorcycles per 1000 people.
A lawn mower is a machine using a revolving blade or blades to cut a lawn at an even length. Lawn mowers employing a blade rotating about a vertical axis are known as rotary mowers, while those employing a blade assembly rotating about a horizontal axis are known as cylinder or reel mowers. Many different designs have been made, each suited to a particular purpose. The smallest types, pushed by a human, are suitable for small residential lawns and gardens, while larger, self-contained; ride-on mowers are suitable for large lawns.
Go-carts are small, open, four-wheeled vehicles, often called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits. Karts vary widely in speed and some (known as Superkarts) can reach speeds exceeding 160 miles per hour (260 km/h), while go-karts intended for the general public in amusement parks may be limited to speeds of no more than 15 miles per hour (24 km/h).
A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snowmachine, or sled, is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow. Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no road or trail. Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep snow or forests while most are used on open terrain including frozen lakes, or driven on paths or trails. Usually built to accommodate a driver and perhaps one adult passenger; much like motorcycles and ATVs. They have no enclosure other than a windshield and their engine normally drives a continuous track or tracks at the rear while skis at the front provide directional control. Originally intended as a winter utility vehicle to be used where other vehicles cannot go, they appealed to hunters and workers transporting personnel and materiel across snow-covered land, frozen lakes and rivers. In the latter part of the 20th century, they have been put to use for recreational purposes as well. The contemporary types of recreational riding forms are known as snowcross/racing, trail riding, freestyle, mountain climbing, boondocking, carving, ditchbanging and grass drag.
A golf cart or golf buggy is a small vehicle designed originally to carry two golfers and their golf clubs around a golf course or on desert trails with less effort than walking. Golf cars come in a wide range of formats and are more generally used to convey small numbers of passengers short distances at speeds less than 15 mph (24 km/h). They are generally around 4 feet (1.2 m) wide×8 feet (2.4 m) long×6 feet (1.8 m) high and weigh 900 pounds (410 kg) to 1,000 pounds (450 kg). Most are powered by 4-stroke engines. When purpose-built for general transportation these are called Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs), but with various operating limitations such as top speed and heavy regulation on which type of streets these types of cars are permitted to be used.
A snow blower or snow thrower is a machine for removing snow from an area where it is not wanted, such as a driveway, sidewalk, roadway, railroad track, rink, runway or house. The term “snow thrower” is often used to encompass snow throwers and snow blowers, however, a snow thrower is a machine using a single stage to remove or “throw” snow while a snowblower uses two stages to remove or “blow” snow. Snow throwers range from the very small, capable of removing only a few inches (a few cm) of light snow in an 18 to 20 in (457 to 508 mm) path, to the very large, mounted onto heavy duty winter service vehicles and capable of moving 10-foot (3.05 m) wide, or wider, swaths of heavy snow up to 6 feet (1.83 m) deep.
Typically these above described vehicles and other items typically transported by pickup trucks will not fit well within the box of a pickup truck, especially when the pickup has a tool box, other materials already within the truck bed or the truck has an extended cab. Further, the tailgate of a pickup often times is not strong enough to support the weight of a vehicle described above or any other type of material carried by a pickup.
It would be desirable to be able to have an apparatus which could lift a work and/or recreational vehicle or other materials into the back of a pickup without any lifting of the vehicle or materials by the owner or the need for any ramp to place the vehicle in the truck bed. It would also be desirable to provide a faster and cheaper way to carry a work and/or recreational vehicle or other materials without having to connect a trailer. It would be desirable to eliminate the need for a trailer to transport a work and/or recreational vehicle or other materials. It would be desirable to eliminate the amount of time it takes to load a work and/or recreational vehicle or other materials into a truck bed. It would be desirable to eliminate the need to locate a trailer when a user wants to transport a work and/or recreational vehicle or other materials.